NORWALK -- Connecticut Students for a Dream drew parallels between their struggle and the Civil Rights Movement at the annual Martin Luther King Day community breakfast.

Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Jeffrey Ingraham said he attempts to bring up provocative issues at the breakfast, attended by a host of Norwalk officials and faith leaders and held in the West Rocks Middle School cafeteria. He said he could not think of a more hot button issue than immigration.

"As a pastor, and I know I speak for all pastors, we deal with immigrants all the time," said Ingraham, who noted he was an immigrant himself. "They are part of our Norwalk community (documented or undocumented)."

The Students for a Dream presentation was given by three of the organization's leaders, Lucas Codognollia, Carolina Bortolleto and Camila Bortolleto, all three of whom emigrated to the United States from Brazil.

"In every story, including the Civil Rights movement, it's the stories, it's the grassroots organizing, that starts a movement," said Codognollia, who attends the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus. "It's when you put a face to the name that a movement starts."

Codognollia moved to Stamford in April 2000. He said he never knew his status until he turned 16. With a January birthday, his friends, many of whom were still 15, urged him to get a learners permit.

His status as an illegal immigrant created several problems in Codognollia's attempt to get educated, something he felt motivated to do as neither of his parents graduated high school. He said a college in upstate New York offered him a substantial financial aid package, one that would cover almost all the costs of going to school. He found out during finals the school had rescinded the offer because of his status.

"In every story, including the Civil Rights movement, it's the stories, it's the grassroots organizing, that starts a movement. It's when you put a face to the name that a movement starts," Codognollia told the crowd.

Carolina and Camila's stories are similar. Both came to the United States at age 9. Carolina told the crowd they always knew they were here illegally, but she failed to understand what that meant until she was in high school.

Carolina spoke to the parallels between what the three called the Dream Movement and the Civil Rights Movement.

"Martin Luther King is an inspiration to the Dream Movement," she said. "The dream movement has started to use some of the same tactics (used during the Civil Rights Movement) in civil disobedience and peaceful resistance."

Both Camila and Carolina had to pay out-of-state tuition while at Western Connecticut State University, where the two graduated with degrees in biology, despite living in Danbury since their family moved from Brazil. That changed for students in their situation when Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill allowing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, a bill Connecticut Students for a Dream advocated for.

"We put our faces out there to show this isn't about politics, it's about real people. By sharing stories by coming out as undocumented (we put faces to our stories)," Camila said.

All three benefit from President Barack Obama's deferred action policy -- Codognollia said he recently got a temporary social security card and, last week, a drivers license -- but they still know people, some relatives, who do not qualify for that policy.

"We can't stop our fight, Our fight isn't done. There are a lot of people who we know who don't qualify or this program," Codognollia said. "Going back to this event, Martin Luther King was a dreamer, we're dreamers. We're all dreamers here."

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